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NWA in hot seat over $62 million furniture bill
Published: Tuesday November 29, 2011 | 6:27 pm 1 Comment
Contractor General Greg Christie- file photo
Damion Mitchell, News Editor
The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has started a probe into another controversy related to a public infrastructure programme.
According to the OCG, there appears to be serious irregularities in the procurement of $62 million worth of [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]office [COLOR=blue !important]furniture[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] with money from the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Works [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Project[/COLOR][/COLOR].
The Palisadoes Shoreline Project is being executed by the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd under a $US65 million contract from the National Works Agency (NWA).
The five containers of furniture was bought by the NWA.
Yesterday, five senior OCG officials made an unannounced six-hour visit to the NWA’s [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]head [COLOR=blue !important]office[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] in St Andrew.
The OCG says during the visit, separate interviews were conducted with the permanent secretary in the transport ministry, Dr. Alwin Hales and Earl Patterson the acting NWA CEO.
But according to the OCG, it appeared that both men were uncertain of the source of the money to buy the $62 million worth of furniture.
To make matters worse, the OCG says the transport and [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]works[/COLOR][/COLOR] ministry and the NWA did not follow the Government’s Procurement Procedures in buying the furniture.
The OCG says the acting NWA CEO advised that the purchase of the office furniture would have been done by way of a ‘work order’ since the money was coming from the ‘institutional strengthening’ component of the contract for the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Project.
Some US$1.1 million was reserved for the institutional strengthening component of the programme.
But the OCG says the contract documents do not provide details on the terms for the use of the money under the institutional strengthening component.
According to the OCG, it was advised that the institutional strengthening component of the Palisadoes Shoreline Project may have been a part of the Agreement between the finance ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China.
But the contractor general says he could not find any supporting clause for such a component in the agreement.
In the meantime there is confusion over who bought the furniture.
The OCG says at one stage it was told by the NWA that the furniture was procured by China Habour Engineering Company.
But OCG says the NWA also advised that the items were undertaken between the NWA and the named supplier, Stationery and Office Supplies Ltd (SOS).
But despite this, the OCG says the NWA provided other documents which reveal that the official quotation from SOS for the sale of the furniture to the NWA, was billed to a customer named “J. Robertson”.
The contractor general said he found it curious that the quotation was neither addressed to the NWA nor to China Harbour.
The contractor general says he has not been able to find out whether the named “customer”, “J. Roberston”, was employed to any of the public or private entities involved in the supply of the office furniture.
Meanwhile, the OCG says it found no evidence to show that there were checks and balances when the furniture was being transferred from the four containers, in which they were shipped, to the five containers now located at the NWA.
The OCG also says there was no evidence to show that there were checks and balances to account for the furniture for the six weeks they have been at the NWA.
The contractor general has recommended that the acting NWA CEO surrender the keys to the five containers to the principal financial officer of the transport ministry for the safeguarding of the furniture.
damion.mitchell@gleanerjm.com
Published: Tuesday November 29, 2011 | 6:27 pm 1 Comment
Contractor General Greg Christie- file photo
Damion Mitchell, News Editor
The Gleaner/Power 106 News Centre
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has started a probe into another controversy related to a public infrastructure programme.
According to the OCG, there appears to be serious irregularities in the procurement of $62 million worth of [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]office [COLOR=blue !important]furniture[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] with money from the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Works [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]Project[/COLOR][/COLOR].
The Palisadoes Shoreline Project is being executed by the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd under a $US65 million contract from the National Works Agency (NWA).
The five containers of furniture was bought by the NWA.
Yesterday, five senior OCG officials made an unannounced six-hour visit to the NWA’s [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]head [COLOR=blue !important]office[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] in St Andrew.
The OCG says during the visit, separate interviews were conducted with the permanent secretary in the transport ministry, Dr. Alwin Hales and Earl Patterson the acting NWA CEO.
But according to the OCG, it appeared that both men were uncertain of the source of the money to buy the $62 million worth of furniture.
To make matters worse, the OCG says the transport and [COLOR=blue !important][COLOR=blue !important]works[/COLOR][/COLOR] ministry and the NWA did not follow the Government’s Procurement Procedures in buying the furniture.
The OCG says the acting NWA CEO advised that the purchase of the office furniture would have been done by way of a ‘work order’ since the money was coming from the ‘institutional strengthening’ component of the contract for the Palisadoes Shoreline Protection and Rehabilitation Project.
Some US$1.1 million was reserved for the institutional strengthening component of the programme.
But the OCG says the contract documents do not provide details on the terms for the use of the money under the institutional strengthening component.
According to the OCG, it was advised that the institutional strengthening component of the Palisadoes Shoreline Project may have been a part of the Agreement between the finance ministry and the Export-Import Bank of China.
But the contractor general says he could not find any supporting clause for such a component in the agreement.
In the meantime there is confusion over who bought the furniture.
The OCG says at one stage it was told by the NWA that the furniture was procured by China Habour Engineering Company.
But OCG says the NWA also advised that the items were undertaken between the NWA and the named supplier, Stationery and Office Supplies Ltd (SOS).
But despite this, the OCG says the NWA provided other documents which reveal that the official quotation from SOS for the sale of the furniture to the NWA, was billed to a customer named “J. Robertson”.
The contractor general said he found it curious that the quotation was neither addressed to the NWA nor to China Harbour.
The contractor general says he has not been able to find out whether the named “customer”, “J. Roberston”, was employed to any of the public or private entities involved in the supply of the office furniture.
Meanwhile, the OCG says it found no evidence to show that there were checks and balances when the furniture was being transferred from the four containers, in which they were shipped, to the five containers now located at the NWA.
The OCG also says there was no evidence to show that there were checks and balances to account for the furniture for the six weeks they have been at the NWA.
The contractor general has recommended that the acting NWA CEO surrender the keys to the five containers to the principal financial officer of the transport ministry for the safeguarding of the furniture.
damion.mitchell@gleanerjm.com
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